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Hubspot exec Dan Tyre shares selling advice at Phoenix Startup Week.

TEMPE, Ariz. — No matter your profession, it doesn’t hurt to know how to sell. Whether you’re trying to convince someone to buy a product, or simply agree with your viewpoint on a given topic, improving our selling skills is certainly beneficial.

Dan Tyre knows something about this. The Hubspot executive has been selling for more than three decades, and on Wednesday at Phoenix Startup Week, Tyre shared some valuable tips that just about anyone can use in their everyday life.

“You are always selling,” Tyre said to the standing-room only crowd. “Right now I am selling you on the concept I’m talking about. You’re either biting into your sandwich and rolling your eyes and saying ‘this is total crap,’ or you’re saying ‘this is pretty good, I’m going to listen.’ In every 1-on-1 transaction, your ability to understand, to look into someone eyes, to hear what people are saying or aren’t saying on the phone — to understand how to relate to that person is critically important.”

phoenixstartupweekTyre said that there’s no such thing as a “born salesperson” and that if you have the right attitude, you can learn how to sell with the best of them. He also noted that the process of selling and the best way to go about doing so has changed over the past several decades.

“When people say they hate salespeople, or that they’re smarmy, it’s a holdover from the 1950s,” he said. “There’s a huge fundamental change in the way people sell and the way people buy that has a significant positive impact not only in the sales profession, but also in the ability for people to help and serve.”

Tyre called 2015 the “best time ever to be in sales.” The veteran entrepreneur and angel investor recommended two “21st century” books to read: SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath, and New Sales Simplified by Mike Weinberg.

You can listen to Tyre’s talk at the bottom of this post. Here’s a roundup of his tips, starting with advice for startups:

Follow the Inbound Methodology 

Via Hubspot.
Via Hubspot.

Tyre said that every startup needs to follow the concept of “inbound methodology.” It’s a 21st-century way of using tools like social media, blogging, and SEO to gain traffic, leads, and customers.

“In a nutshell, inbound marketing is about marketing with a magnet, not a sledgehammer,” Hubspot notes in this guide. “Instead of outdated, interruptive marketing methods like buying ads, buying email lists, or cold calling, inbound marketing focuses on earning trust using educational content that draws consumers toward your website where they can learn more about what you sell on their own terms.”

Here’s more on the inbound methodology.

Everyone sells

From the CEO to the receptionist to the office manager, everybody at your startup should know that one-minute pitch.

“You don’t want anyone, anywhere to not have a great understanding of that one-minute explanation of what you do,” Tyre said. “Give them business cards and t-shirts to hand out everywhere. Everybody is always spreading the brand, always saying we are looking for new customers.

Photo via Shutterstock.
Photo via Shutterstock.

Get those first 1,000 proof points

When Hubspot first started out, Tyre said he cold-called family and friends in order to get the initial customer data as quickly as possible.

“It wasn’t so much for getting revenue at that time,” he said. “We wanted to get all that data. It was critically important for setting the direction of the company.”

If no one is buying your product, it’s time to reset

The great thing about working for startups, Tyre said, is that it’s OK to fail. If no one is buying your company’s product in those first few months, it’s time to reset your goals “at the first possible time.”

“Being an entrepreneur is all about learning and having freaking scar tissue so the next time you don’t make the same stupid mistake,” he said.

Here’s more general selling advice from Tyre:

Start with your goals

Tyre said that when you’re getting ready to sell something, it’s important to start from the end and work back from there. That means answering questions like these: How many customers do I need? How many leads do I need to get that many customers? How many connections do I have that can help me get that many leads?

Along with company-wide goals, Tyre said it’s important to think about your personal goals, too.

“What do you want to do with your sales career?” Tyre said. “That will help you be self-directed.”

Sales is a process

Tyre said that you must sit down with your senior management team or advisors and figure out exactly how you want to reach potential customers.

“In the 1950s we hired people who slapped people’s backs, took them to lunch, played golf, and closed a deal,” he said. “That doesn’t happen anymore. You have to have a business pain and figure out your sales process from there.”

Building trust

Tyre said the single most important thing that a salesperson does is build trust with a customer who must feel comfortable that what you’re offering will actually solve a business pain point.

“You won’t buy from someone unless you have confidence that they understand what your problem is and they can solve it,” he said. “Building trust means the customer is putting the solving of a business problem in your hands, and you have an ethical and moral requirement to make sure your solution will be better.”

Photo via Shutterstock.
Photo via Shutterstock.

And here’s three tips for your next sales call:

Be human

Tyre said it’s critically important to ask open-ended questions so that you can better gauge their personality.

“If that person answers with just ‘yes,’ that tells me something,” he said. “If they go on for eight minutes about how they’re doing, that shows me something else — maybe I’m selling in Ohio or Indiana.”

Ask questions

Tyre said the best sales people only talk 10 percent of the time.

“You have to ask questions,” he said. “Customers don’t care about you. They care about solving a business problem.”

Take notes

Tyre takes detailed notes whenever he’s on a sales call. He likes to repeat what a potential customer just told him with a phrase like, “so what I hear you’re telling me is…”

“That is amazing and you can hear people’s jaw drop,” he said. “You are acknowledging to that person that you are engaged.”

Tyre also sends a recap of everything he learned on a call to customers so they know he was paying attention.

“They know that they are important to me,” he said. “That’s how I get credibility.”

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